Social Media Plan Guide

How to Start Implementing Social Media

This section outlines key practices identified by practitioners for successful Social Media Plan implementation that must be considered before the plan is finalized, such as defining operational roles and outlining social media policies. User considerations should directly inform completion of the Social Media Plan Template. Users are encouraged to download, complete, and/or modify the Social Media Plan Template in ways that suit their organization's needs.

Defining Operational Roles and Responsibilities

Designating specific members of an organization with Social Media Plan management and implementation responsibilities is an essential step in creating and implementing an effective Social Media Plan. Whether one person in an organization or a larger social media team is responsible for the Social Media Plan, defining operational roles and responsibilities ensures your organization remains accountable to what is outlined in the document. Successful practitioners use variations of the following roles and responsibilities to support effective Social Media Plan management and implementation:

• Incident Decision Maker: An individual in a key leadership position, likely at the incident management level, who is responsible for operations and what social media platforms are going to be used for the strategy. This individual usually operates within the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
  
• Social Media Team Lead: This individual is responsible for social media governance, implementation, and strategy; they work directly with departments and authorized agents to drive social media initiatives.
  
• Digital Content Lead: This individual uses pre-written content templates and creates new written, audio, and video content for social media initiatives. information on specific social media accounts.
• Social Media Account Manager: This individual is responsible for managing and posting
  
• Other Team Members: Individuals who may be in full-time, part-time, or volunteer roles that provide support to help the team accomplish overarching social media goals. Individuals in this role may not have access to accounts or the authority to make decisions regarding SMEM activities.

Social Media Account Management Procedures

Account management procedures ensure an organization's platforms and personnel perform consistently no matter what. Management procedures will vary depending on: (1) the goals and objectives of the organization, and (2) the size of the social media management team. For example, Durham, North Carolina has a policy for elected officials who want to request a new social media account. The policy includes guidance on adherence to laws and policies regarding copyright, use of photographs, public records retention, personnel privacy, First Amendment, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the Americans with Disabilities Act, and information security policies established by the City of Durham. Examples of common management procedures identified by practitioners are included below.

Procedure A: Auditing Social Media Platforms

Once a SMEM program is up and running, it is important to regularly conduct thorough audits of existing SMEM activities to identify optimization opportunities. A social media audit allows you to determine what is and is not working across platforms, while also identifying impostor accounts, outdated profiles, and new opportunities for social engagement. Hootsuite offers a free social media audit template and additional best practices on conducting a comprehensive audit. Practitioners recommended outlining a social media audit process within the Social Media Plan. Prior to conducting a social media platform audit, consider the following steps:

1. Create an audit template to use throughout the audit;
   
2. Research what is working well for other organizations of similar size and scope to identify best practices;
3. Identify and document all social media accounts associated with your organization, including "rogue" accounts;
   
4. Identify the posts with the highest engagement for each platform;
   
5. Analyze posts to identify patterns and theme the data by best practice to know which content is working well; and
6. Compile key findings and metrics in the audit document. Note any underperforming platforms.

Procedure B: New Account Creation

Prior to creating a new social media account, consider the following:

1. What is the purpose of this new account? (e.g., to push out different types of information)
   
2. How will the account support agency SMEM objectives?
   
3. Who is the target audience? How does the target audience differ from other existing audiences?
   
4. How does the proposed content differ from the content currently distributed?
   
5. Which metrics, if any, support your need for a new account?
   
6. What is the impact of NOT creating the account?
   
7. Are resources readily available to support account management and content creation?
   

Account Management Tool	Description	Price
Buffer	A web application that focuses mainly on post scheduling.	Standard plan: free Buffer Pro: $15/month
	A dashboard for users to organize and manage a business. Users can securely share Facebook assets among multiple people or teams in their organization for an already existing organization or business page.	Free
Hootsuite	A dashboard for users to monitor, manage, analyze, and archive content from multiple social media platforms at once.	Professional plan: $30/month Team plan: $130/month Business plan: $600/month Free 30-day trial available
Hubspot	An inbound marketing software designed to compare the performance of different platforms, campaigns, and publishing times. It also provides services to schedule posts and manage engagements across platforms.	Starter plan: $50/month Professional plan: $800/month Enterprise plan: $3,200/month Free plan also available
SocialPilot.co	A dashboard for users to organize, schedule, publish, and analyze content across platforms.	Professional plan: $25/month Small Team plan: $42/month Free 14-day trial available
Sprout Social	A dashboard for users to organize, schedule, publish, and analyze content across platforms.	Standard plan: $100/month Professional plan: $150/month Advanced plan: $250/month Free 30-day trial available
Trello	A project management blogging tool for users to assign tasks by team member. It can be used to create social media content calendars.	Business Class plan: $10/month Enterprise plan: $21/month Free plan also available
TweetDeck	A dashboard for users to manage Twitter accounts and produce analytics reports to measure engagement and identify trends.	Free

Social Media Use Policies and Guidelines

Practitioners who have implemented an effective SMEM program in their organization recommend including specific social media use policies and guidelines. Policies and guidelines that target staff member social media use - both personal and professional - can be instrumental to setting organization-wide social media standards. As the social media landscape continues to change, SMEM practitioners voiced the importance of organizations regularly reviewing and updating their social media use policies.

Procedure E: Comment Guidelines

Subject matter expert (SME) contributors to this Guide referenced the importance of providing clear expectations for social media administrators and public citizens to effectively address

acceptable and inappropriate comments. Comment policies protect organizations from liability risks that can occur as a result of social media interactions with citizens. For example, the State of Michigan created a set of publicly available, Social Media Community Guidelines which outline expectations for both employees and the public on engaging with the State's social media accounts. Meanwhile, the United States Air Force posts their Social Media Community Guidelines in the 'About' section of their Facebook page. Displaying guidelines directly on the social media platform ensures users are aware of the specific regulations associated with each site. Figure 4 below demonstrates how to clearly and succinctly detail why the guidelines are in place through the General Information section and explains exactly what will not be allowed on the Facebook page.

Figure 4: United States Air Force Comment Policy

Practitioners identified other key elements for effective comment policies, such as:

• A moderation process for comments that also outlines the right of the organization to remove content and comments;
• A clear definition of the types of comments that will be removed; and
• Publicly available messaging that reiteraes how the organization will archive social media engagements.

Procedure F: Security Guidelines

In many public safety organizations, leadership often has concerns about maintaining the security of social media accounts. Including security guidelines in the organization's social media plan can help to mitigate potential concerns and sustain buy-in for the use of social media in emergency operations. Individuals can enhance the security of all social media accounts by using tactics such as setting up a system of approvals for social media posts and training all staff on best practices. Practitioners interviewed for this Guide also recommended the following for increased social media security:

• Unique passwords with 8-15 characters that include symbols, numbers, and capitalization;
  
• Two-factor authentication;
  
• Limited account access among staff members; and
• Password changes at least once per year using random password generators.

Procedure G: Employee Personal Social Media Account Guidelines

Including personal social media account guidance for employees in a precautionary tone can help maintain an organization's positive image and prevent potential legal or security issues. Content on employees' personal accounts are still reflective of an organization's overall brand and should be in alignment with the organization's professional standards. The Jefferson, CO County Sheriff's Office Social Media Policy provides clear guidance for employees with personal social media accounts on types of content the organization considers appropriate and inappropriate.

Practitioners interviewed for the Guide recommended the following as key elements of personal social media account guidance:

• Do not use personal social media accounts for work purposes.
• Use common sense when posting on any social media site.
• Understand that inappropriate content posted on personal social media accounts may:
  
  • Impair working relationships of the organization, for which loyalty and confidentiality are important;
    
  • Impede the performance of official duties or disrupt emergency operations; or
    
  • Impair discipline and harmony among coworkers.
• Never commit your department to a course of action without consulting leadership.
  
• Clearly label the social media account as 'personal' within the biography section.
  
• Do not disclose confidential or proprietary information acquired by way of your position within your organization
• Outline any corrective or disciplinary actions which may be considered if employees use social media inappropriately or violate the professional and personal guidelines provided.

Procedure H: Accessibility Guidelines

Your organization's social media accounts should be accessible to all populations. As existing social media platforms enhance their features and new platforms emerge, it is essential for government agencies to create social media content that can be understood by all citizens, including those with disabilities or non-English speakers. The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, and the Social Media Accessibility Working Group created the Improving the Accessibility of Social Media in Government Toolkit to outline key tips for creating accessible social media content.39 Some example characteristics of accessible social media content recommended by practitioners include:

• Compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA);
  
  • Alt-Text Techniques (for describing photographs within the platforms)
    
  • Closed Captioning versus Open Captioning.
    
• Available contact information on each social media account page;
  
• Available through multiple social media channels;
• Available in multiple languages, as needed;
  
• Written in plain language; and
  
• Ensure images include keys that are not color specific for those who are color blind. Consider using different shapes instead.